Here’s my idea: adopt a badge with a standard set of labels to accompany photos, something more obvious than a line of six-point type. For the sake of an example, let’s say a 10-point letter, or combination of letters, in a small box.

If you publish a montage, give it an “M.” A photo from the studio gets an “S.” A straight shot might only need a “TS” (tonal correction and sharpening) or an “AS” (as shot). There’s “P” for posed and “TE” for time exposure. We can identify all the common manipulations –- even the obvious ones -– and assign them letters. Local publications can expand the list as needed to cover special situations.

On the Web, when the reader hovers over the symbol, a tool-tip-type popup box will explain “2E” means double exposure. A link could be created to a fuller definition or explanation if required. Readers would get real information. (This doesn’t work as elegantly in print: a glossary would need to be published somewhere in each edition.)

Twitter is emerging as a major force in breaking news. But some people disagree.

Today we saw yet another illustration, when people in Mumbai got the word of terrorist attacks out to the world well before mainstream media even knew something was happening. Mathew Ingram points out previous examples of Twitter users breaking important world news.

If I didn’t hear about something important happening by watching my Twitter stream, it’s the first place I go to get an idea of what’s going on. Years ago I would have turned to the cable news channels, now it’s Twitter.

It’s not just the speed of early reports either. Twitter also serves up a constant stream of updates as situations progress.

The facts seem to be irrefutable. But some people disagree, as they wrote in comments to my Mumbai post. You should also read TomsTechBlog, who argues that it’s irresponsible to think of Twitter as a news source. The reason? The facts are often wrong.

Newspapers are still almost entirely focused on the print product, and still aren’t devoting sufficient resources to optimizing and maximizing their online offerings. Yeah, they’ve got Web producers, but all they’re doing to wrangling print content onto the paper’s Web site. Sure, there are newspaper Web ad sales reps, but they’re calling on the same advertisers that have been feeding the print side for years, trying to sell banner ads that are little more than online versions of print ads. Yes, there are (maybe) Web technical and marketing and (maybe) business development staffs in newspaper companies, but invariably they’re overwhelmed and undermanned–token efforts compared to their equivalents on the print side.

Dear free software developers: Before we American nerds sit down to our turkey and mashed potatoes today, know that your creations are at the top of the list of things we’re most thankful for. Whether you’re an indie hacker putting out the occasional script or an employee at a giant internet company building out a webapp with millions of users or a voluntary coder contributing to an open source project, we salute you this Thanksgiving in gratitude for all the things your work enables us to do every day. Short of covering you in candied yam kisses and cranberry sauce hugs, please accept our hearty thanks for your work. We like you. We really, really like you.

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